for people who care about the West

Strange bedfellows make a grazing deal in
Idaho

And influential Sen. Larry Craig is odd man
out

The 20-year struggle over cattle grazing
in southwest Idaho blew up on July 29. U.S. District Judge B. Lynn
Winmill in Boise ordered 14 ranches to remove all their cattle and
sheep from 800,000 acres of federal land, stretching from southwest
of Twin Falls to the Nevada line.

A lawsuit filed by Jon
Marvel, the West’s leading proponent of kicking livestock off
public lands, had triggered the judge’s ultimatum (HCN,
8/2/99: Jon Marvel vs. the Marlboro Man). But the real surprise was
what happened next: On Aug. 30, Marvel announced he’d cut a
deal with the four ranches that run most of the cattle in question.

If the judge OKs the deal, the ranches, part of the
empire of Idaho billionaire J.R. Simplot, can keep their cattle on
the land for at least a few more years, while a full environmental
impact study is done. During that time, they would have to reduce
their grazing by about 6 percent, and adjust cattle distribution to
help protect wildlife habitat.

While Marvel and Simplot
see benefits in their arrangement, one highly influential person
does not: Idaho Sen. Larry Craig, R. He’s been the
ranchers’ biggest backer in Congress, running roughshod over
Marvel’s lawsuits several times. And the truce effectively
bypasses him.

All in all, Marvel says, it’s an
attempt "to alter the political dynamic."

The rangeland
in question is an 800,000-acre patchwork of sagebrush, desert grass
and canyons, part of the 1.7 million-acre Jarbidge Resource Area,
overseen by the Bureau of Land Management. The area has seen
massive weed invasions, and the BLM has planted 600,000 acres of
non-native crested wheatgrass, which provides forage for cattle but
is not much use for wildlife. Sage grouse have declined 85 percent
here in the last 20 to 50 years.

Marvel has filed a
series of lawsuits charging that the BLM’s assessments of
grazing impacts are inadequate. He racked up a couple of wins in
2003 and 2004, when both the BLM and Judge Winmill said more
analysis was needed before renewing ranchers’ grazing
permits. But each time, Sen. Craig had the final say: He attached
amendments to appropriations bills allowing the agency to continue
granting the permits.

In his July ruling, the judge said
the BLM runs grazing "like a horse with blinders on." The
agency’s own studies show that overgrazing has harmed habitat
and stream quality, he found. He ordered the livestock to be
removed within several weeks, and not brought back until the BLM
does a comprehensive environmental impact study.

Now,
under the terms of the deal with Marvel, Simplot agrees not to ask
Sen. Craig to come to the rescue again, and not to accept such
assistance if Craig offers it. Simplot agreed to the deal because
it’s better than removing the cattle for the estimated three
years it would take to do the environmental impact study, and
better than a prolonged court battle, says company spokesman Fred
Zerza.

Once a full impact study is done, the BLM could
impose tougher limits, but, "we have no fear of (that)," Zerza
says. "We think (the study) is going to confirm that our present
management is proper."

Marvel often criticizes the role
of wealthy or corporate ranchers on public lands. And the J.R.
Simplot Company is one of the biggest: Its global agribusiness
empire includes ranches that run cattle on 2.3 million acres of
federal land in four states. In the Jarbidge area, Simplot has
about 9,000 cows on the BLM land in the winter, and 900 in the
summer. But Marvel says the agreement with Simplot is a good move
for many reasons. Not only does it sidestep Craig, he says, it also
benefits sage grouse, other wildlife and sensitive plants.

BLM officials say they can’t comment on the deal
until the court case plays out. Ten other ranches are affected by
the judge’s order; they run a total of about 1,000 cattle and
5,800 sheep on the BLM land. Marvel made a similar agreement with
the smallest operation, but the others are still deciding which way
to jump.

That’s one of the best reasons to make the
deal with Simplot, Marvel says: It provides leverage to force the
other ranchers to fall into line. "It’s divide and conquer,"
he says.

Craig isn’t saying publicly whether
he’ll try another end run in Congress on behalf of any
ranchers that don’t make deals with Marvel. But a Craig
spokesman, Mike Tracy, says, "Larry is always going to consider
utilizing the legislative approach."